The present invention is embodied within a tool for operating room use by a surgeon in hip pinning operations, the tool assuring proper guidance of the hip pin into place in an expeditious manner.
In repair of the head and neck portions of the femur, it is common practice to insert a metallic device, termed a nail, either of straight or angular configuration. The latter type of nail includes a side plate which is affixed to the femoral shaft by screws with the remaining angular portion extending through the femur neck. The nail so applied serves to reinforce the femur neck and immobilize same permitting knitting of the bone fragments. Such nails, with various modifications, have been in wide use for a considerable length of time and are well known in the medical field.
Proper placement of the nail entails the determination of the proper course for pin travel which determination is complicated by the angulated nature of the femur neck with respect to the surgically exposed upper end of the femoral shaft. The degree of angulation (in horizontal and vertical planes) may vary with each patient with the surgical problem further complicated by the absence of an immobile reference point. Accordingly, proper nail placement using present methods is dependent, to a large extent, on individual skill and judgment unaided by any surgical tool. Not unknown are instances of improperly placed pins necessitating a second setting of the pin.
At present, a rather complicated procedure is followed using multiple series of AP and lateral X-rays to disclose the position of an initially inserted guide pin resulting in a lengthy operation with any changes in guide pin location being plotted on the X-rays. Necessary calculations and changes in guide pin location can only be determined after the reading of each set of X-rays by the surgeon. Additionally, the patient is subjected to undesirable amounts of radiation. If correction of guide pin location is required, a second placement of the pin is accomplished along with a second series of AP and lateral X-rays for verification of pin location. Further, it is not uncommon to subject the patient to still another set of X-rays upon completion of a pinning operation to verify hip pin location.